Help Wanted
by The cursed child
Summary: After almost three decades Audrey returns with a new name but the same face.


The Barn disappears for twenty-seven long years. The troubles go with it, and so does Audrey. Despite the fact that everyone knows she will be back, they mourn her. Audrey Parker is dead and gone, and someone new will be coming in her place.

She leaves her friends on the hill, waiting. Vince and Dave are the first to leave. They have been through this before, twice even. It gets easier to say goodbye.

Dwight goes next. Not because he is ready, but because he has a month's worth of cleaning left to do. From experience, he knows that the people that get un-Troubled go a little bit too far with celebrating. He can't blame them.

Nathan and Duke are left standing, staring at the barn shaped patch of ground, trying to figure out what is going to happen next. The previously numb cop is feeling dizzy with the bombardment of sensations around him. A thing as simple as the gentle breeze on his skin remarkably unsettling. He would trade it for his partner in a heartbeat.

He still has a station to run, a town to keep safe, reports of the Troubles to sort for when She comes back. He might already be dead by then, so the best thing he can do is to leave as many clues as possible.

Duke has a lot more to figure out. Since the Reunion he has been stuck at eighteen, and it makes his skin crawl. His teenage years had been bad, and he is in no hurry to repeat them. There is also no way to explain his sudden youth to those ignorant of Haven's biggest secrets.

The Gull employees will need a cover story and his side business is over. None of his clients like dealing with kids that wish to play in the big boys' sandbox. A few years will need to pass before he can convince his contacts that he is worth negotiating with. The first time he went through that process very nearly got him killed. It is a hard world to get into.

Haven doesn't really go back to being one. Apparently you can fix the Troubles, but there is no fixing human nature. Those untouched by the curse take revenge now that both parties are back to equal. The number of premeditated murders reach a record before the year ends.

Nathan and the rest of HPD are running around arresting people until the holding cells are full. They keep falsifying the reports so the outsiders don't come looking at the increased violence. Some motives are just too hard to explain.

Duke is lucky to be unrecognizable. A mob, missing pitchforks and torches but armed with hunting rifles, tries to get him at the Rouge. He escapes only because he sneaks into the crowd and they are looking for someone who is at least a foot taller.

Nathan helps him fake an escape and introduces himself as his own nephew, Duke Crocker II.

The town calms down and returns to routine by December.

By the time troubles start showing up again, they have a specialized team lead by Nathan and Dwight ready to deal until the next reincarnation shows up. It starts with preventive measures. Keeping the town fear-free is a way to leave as many Troubles as possible deactivated. It's not even close to a foolproof plan, but they don't have anything else.

They focus on the kids, unaware of the curse inside them. These days, sex-education is joint by classes for the troubled. Officially it is an extracurricular activity for the elite minds of Haven. Meditation, support systems, family history. It helps a little.

Duke is eleven years older than he was last time, the age-difference between him and his generation glaringly obvious. He still hears that he looks frighteningly like his uncle did daily. The Guard has doubled in size and keeps a close eye on him. The Cape Rouge is docked between two guard ships, and the Gull always has at least the same amount of tattooed customers.

He's hanging up a 'help wanted' poster when she shows up. They've been searching for her face around the corner for months, so he isn't as surprised as he'd thought he'd be. Her hair has switched styles again, highlighted and half-curled. She still hasn't aged, her face a perfect match for the picture he has of her. Her beauty hasn't faded, but he can tell from a distance that she is no Audrey.

Her stance is relaxed, her shoulders unburdened and she is playing with a highlighted strand of hair with her finger, not to mention the piercings. She is leaning against his car with a smirk on her face. Her eyes are moving up and down, checking him out and not bothering to hide it.

"You looking for a hand?" the smirk increases with the question, the double entendre hard to miss.

Duke has this silly grin on his face that is totally appropriate for the situation, but doesn't mean what she thinks it does. He keeps all his questions to himself, focuses on the fact that she is not his best friend and he won't take advantage.

"You know your way around a bar?" he asks instead.

The woman pushes herself away from the truck and walks right past him, brushing her hand across his abs. Even at forty-five he still has it. Duke leers at her retreating behind. He allows himself to appreciate it before following her through the open door.

He finds her skillfully mixing his favorite and wonders if she subconsciously remembers. She has been practicing these past years, because Audrey knew only one trick, and he taught her. Throwing bottles behind her back, stacking shot glasses in pyramid-shape and flawlessly stepping back and forth like she is familiar with his system.

"You're hired." Like he would ever turn her away. "So what's your name, sweetheart?"

Not that it really matters. The longer she is in Haven, the closer she gets to who she is. By the time the real Audrey Parker had shown up, hey had been as different as two people with the same memories could be. There is someone out there who matches this version memory for memory.

"Lexie DeWitt at your service, Captain," she mocks, saluting with the wrong hand. "When do I start?"

He is having trouble getting the smile off his face. "Tonight. You got a place to stay, Lexie?" Audrey's apartment above the Gull is still empty after all these years. He hasn't had the heart to rent it to someone else. Whenever he isn't feeling like the boat -or more likely to drunk to get to the dock- he sleeps upstairs.

"I'm new in town and broke, Boss. Haven't had the time to go hunting for a cardboard box yet."

She's priceless, he thinks as he grins. "Come on," he says with a tilt of his head. What is the chance that Audrey ends up as a bartender? It's just one of those jobs that make her a perfect fit to help the troubled. Sarah had been a nurse and worked in the hospital and a lot in the morgue. She had access to every victim of the troubles, just like Audrey had as a cop. He tries to remember what Lucy did, but can't quite recall.

Open and accessible like Lexie is perfect. People tell bartenders everything, and she will take advantage.

"What's this?" his newest employee asks when he leads her up the stairs and opens the glass doors.

"Fully furnished, rent is low, your pay-check will cover it easily, and you won't have any travel expenses." He will have her close. The past three decades have been lonely. Him and Nathan are still not friends, though he hasn't been arrested in years, though the cop frequently leaves parking tickets. Some things never change.

"View's nice too," she says, looking at him instead of the apartment. Instead of jumping him, like he's half-way expecting, she steps back and takes a real look around. It's slightly dusty, but far better than anything she had planned. Sleeping above a bar is usually a problem, but she will be working at night anyway. "I'll take it."

"Then I will let you settle in. Be down at six, I'll introduce you to the rest of the staff." He slowly backs away, getting one last glimpse to imprint on his eyelids. The first thing he does is lock himself in his truck with the sign he put up a few minutes ago and make sure Lexie isn't watching.

He presses speed-dial and waits.

"Wuornos." Duke hasn't heard that voice in weeks. Nathan has been far too busy to hang out with his not-friend.

"Nate." Pleasantries over and done with, he blurts it out. "Lexie DeWitt is my newest bartender and living above the gull."

Despite the name, the Chief clearly knows exactly what he means. There is only silence on the other side of the line. Duke himself still has a problem believing it, staring at the sign in his lap. Proof, more or less, that she is actually back.

"I'll come by the Gull when she starts. Shift-change's at six?" It obviously costs Nathan a lot to say it. To wait.

"See you then."

**A/N I just wanted to explore what could have been. But for that to happen I needed to change a detail before Audrey went into the Barn, which in this case was Duke's de-aging being permanent. Hope you enjoyed this!**


End file.
